The First Convoys to Murmansk

In the autumn of 1941, the Soviet Union is reeling under the shock of Operation Barbarossa and is urgently calling for material aid from its new Western allies. To deliver tanks, aircraft, trucks and raw materials to the ports of the Soviet Far North, only one navigable sea route opens up: the Arctic one, rounding the northern tip of Norway to reach Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. The Dervish convoy led the way in August, and a new train of merchant ships escorted by the Royal Navy is preparing to set sail.

The sailing conditions there are among the harshest on the globe. The cold bites at hulls and men alike, storms rise without warning, and the approaching polar night upends all calculations of visibility. The pack ice is pushing southward, gradually closing the navigable corridor and drawing the ships nearer to enemy coasts.

For the threat is not only climatic. From occupied Norway, the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe watch over these waters: U-boats on the prowl, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft on the lookout for the slightest plume of smoke. To plot the route is to weigh distance, ice and the enemy's reach against one another before getting under way.